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. 2012 Jan 23;7(1):e30561. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030561

Figure 3. Effective suppression of spasticity after combined therapy with systemic tiagabine and intrathecal injection of GABA or spinal parenchymal GAD65 gene delivery.

Figure 3

(A) EMG responses recorded from gastrocnemius muscle in spastic animals during computer-controlled ankle dorsiflexion before and after systemic treatment with tiagabine (40 mg/kg; i.p.; n = 6), intrathecal GABA (1 mg; IT; n = 6) or combined treatment with tiagabine+IT GABA (n = 6). (B) Time-course of ankle resistance measured during ankle dorsiflexion at baseline and then in 5-min intervals up to 80 min after treatments (* P<0.01; one-way analysis of variance-ANOVA, Bonferroni's posthoc test; MPE-maximum positive effect). (C) EMG responses recorded from the gastrocnemius muscle in spastic animals previously injected spinally with HIV1-CMV-GFP (control; n = 6) or HIV1-CMV-GAD65 (n = 6) lentivirus and then treated with systemic 10 mg/kg or 40 mg/kg tiagabine. (D) Time-course of anti-spastic effect after tiagabine treatment expressed as % of maximum possible effect in measured ankle resistance in HIV1-CMV-GFP or HIV1-CMV-GAD65-GFP lentivirus-injected animals (* P<0.01; one-way analysis of variance-ANOVA, Bonferroni's posthoc test; MPE-maximum positive effect). (E) Changes in H-wave amplitudes recorded from interdigital muscles of the lower extremity during high frequency (20 Hz) sciatic nerve stimulation in animals previously injected spinally with HIV1-CMV-GFP or HIV1-CMV-GAD65 lentivirus and then treated with 40 mg/kg tiagabine. (F) Time-course of changes in H-wave amplitudes before and up to 90 min after tiagabine administration (red line-P<0.05; unpaired t test).